Search this site

Find short term insurance

About our health insurance quote forms and phone lines

We do not sell insurance products, but this form will connect you with partners of healthinsurance.org who do sell insurance products. You may submit your information through this form, or call
1-205-564-91661-844-961-0503
to speak directly with licensed enrollers who will provide advice specific to your situation. Read about
your data and privacy.

The mission of healthinsurance.org and its editorial team is to provide information and resources that help American consumers make informed choices about buying and keeping health coverage. We are nationally recognized experts on the Affordable Care Act (ACA) and state health insurance exchanges/marketplaces.
Learn more about us.

Illinois law limits short-term plans to six months after lawmakers override governor’s veto

HB2624/SB1737, which was approved by lawmakers in 2018 and sent to the governor in late June, implemented state-level guidelines for short-term health plans. The amended version of the legislation limits short-term plans to durations of less than 181 days and prohibits renewals. In addition, an enrollee cannot purchase a new short-term plan from the same issuer within 60 days of the termination of a previous short-term plan.

The legislation also calls for short-term plans to be sold with prominent warning labels, disclosing the fact that they are not minimum essential coverage, do not cover pre-existing conditions, and do not include coverage for all of the ACA’s essential health benefits.

The legislation is quite extensive and addresses other insurance provisions in Illinois. Most of it, including the provisions relating to short-term health plans, took effect as of when the law was enacted (November 27, 2018).

But as of early December 2018, insurers in Illinois were still marketing longer short-term plans with total durations, including renewals, of up to 36 months. I spoke with the Illinois Department of Insurance about this, and they said they were in the process of sorting this out and were expecting the longer short-term plans to no longer be available as of early 2019. As of late 2019, all of the available short-term plans in Illinois are capped at six months in duration.

Until October 2, 2018, federal rules limited short-term plans to three months in duration and renewals were prohibited. But the Trump Administration’s new rules for short-term plans allow them to have initial terms of up to 364 days, and to be renewable (at the insurer’s discretion) for a total duration of up to 36 months. Until SB1737 was enacted, Illinois was following the new federal rules. But the state’s new, stricter rules supersede the federal rules, so short-term plans are limited to six months in Illinois.

Illinois insurance department: buyer beware

The Illinois Department of Insurance has warned consumers about high-pressure marketing tactics in which short-term plans are sometimes disguised as ACA-compliant coverage.